New Year's Eve in The Old Days ~ with Shinzen Young

Charlie left me a note reminding me about the old days. Where are you Charlie?

The really old days that he can remember in a few of you can remember so the really old days. I had a center in Korea town.

And we did exactly the same thing that we were doing here and that was what was that that was 25 years ago.

Longer.

Yeah.

So it's downtown LA and it's a long time ago and we used to do exactly what we do, we sit in the new year every single new year we would do that except it was.

It was a lot more dramatic that we're going to get to experience.

Because they hadn't yet out log the pistol. Aeros I think it's now illegal right to shoot all firearms in La. They still do it well, it wasn't even illegal. It wasn't even discouraged and we were right in the heart of downtown LA. And So what would happen is forgotten all about this.

Charlie wrote that note, but Charlie and Judy remember anyone else go that far back to CMC.

Not in this carpet Diafana Yeah, Robert so I would happen is we do are sad.

And then you know you're in somebody and to some extent pretty mellow and you do you chant and it was the same things money but my home exactly the same except? What would happen during that half hour or so as you're approaching midnight is that the Sonic activity around would escalate just be like a few routes here there and then it's like.

More and more and more and more until finally it's like the Battle of the bulge semi automatic weapons and I mean next store and I mean, you can see the flash and hear the sound of a semi automatic weapon. It's not just like a gun or something. It's like it's like crazy crazy sounds and we just like told contrast let's really, really.

And you know it's like well like they say you know it's good for your practice so that was New Years. Yeah, back in the old days. Yeah, that was pretty crazy, too. We were that neighborhood is Korea tone.

It's right where Korea town intersects with an El Salvadorian Barrio. I don't know what the ethnic thing is now.

And then you have a whole chicano thing also going on so.

And it's downtown so all of our retreats every single retreat all day.

You could hear you get the mariachis from one side get the Koreans were very quiet. But there was also a lot of Vietnamese and so you get sort of the sino Vietnamese Peking opera kinds of sounds coming. There was always at least 1 fluid schizophrenic person acting out on the corner and you got the turf wars going on.

They actually ended up blocking off our street with cement barriers eventually People couldn't even come in the LAPD because it was such a hot drug selling area and they were right on our front lawn literally on the front lawn and you could hear the turf wars People would get into fights. You be sitting and meditating and it's like you would actually hear People like slugging each other.

That's the way that's the old that's what you're remembering right.

Buddhist, saying, You used to remind yourself, yeah, I can. Guess what that was let me guess I probably said. If you want a small enlightenment. Go to the mountain. If you want a big enlightenment come to the city that is a Chinese proverb I heard from one of the Chinese Masters so.

Yeah, so we used to meditate right in the middle of the city and so it was a very different. New Years experience here, sometimes we hear a little like array.

If we're lucky we get it was pretty cool contrast.

And also it was really good because you learn that you didn't have to have silence in order to have the practice. You know that's the beauty of the mindfulness. You could just recycle the reactions and so that's what we used to do it. We've got a little bit difficult was lot of People got their cars broken into. You know, usually I'd have to counsel someone after retreat that deal with.

Calling the cops and that was those are the crazy days. Things are a lot more mellow now, so I guess we can appreciate that.